The winding country roads that cut through Pleasant Prairie, Wis., provide a stark contrast to Chicago’s sprawling suburban landscape.
There is only one large shopping mall and it lines the village’s western border, along Interstate Highway 94. There are no megaplex movie theaters or stretches of nationally known retail chains and home improvement warehouse-style stores.
Instead, visitors will find small housing subdivisions, quaint farm houses on large acreage, locally operated taverns and road signs warning that a tractor may soon be pulling onto the road. That quiet country atmosphere is fueling growth, however, as home builders carve out sections of farm and prairie land for new housing developments.
The bulk of building activity is near Wisconsin Highway 50 on the north and along the southern section of the village. Pleasant Prairie is bounded by 128th Street (also known as Russell Road) on the south, Lake Michigan on the east, Wisconsin 50 on the north, and sections of I-94 on the west.
The village had an estimated population of 14,226 at the beginning of 1999, up from 12,037 in 1990. By 2010, that number is expected to reach between 19,300 and 25,600, depending upon how quickly some areas are developed, said Peggy Herrick, the village’s assistant zoning administrator. “We probably have about 9,000 undeveloped acres out of a total of 55,000 acres.” Some of that land, however, would be preserved as open land.
The village also has expanded its boundaries through annexation, bringing in approximately 900 acres along its western border near I-94 since 1990. The annexations were the result of several groups of property owners asking to become part of the village, Herrick said.
Some home builders see the southern portion of Wisconsin as a logical extension of the Chicago-area building boom. As corporate jobs and new developments have pulled buyers north into Lake County, the suburban expansion has moved closer to the state line. This has created commuting patterns that link Lake County and southern Wisconsin as an outer ring around the Chicago area.
Those who travel between Wisconsin and Illinois for their jobs and residences do not have to pay income tax in both states, said Mike Klemens, a spokesman for the Illinois Department of Revenue. “We have a reciprocal agreement with the State of Wisconsin so that you only pay income tax to your state of residence.”
Many of those commuters are executives who work in Lake County or some of Wisconsin’s larger cities. Pleasant Prairie’s location, along with the lure of lower land prices and a rural atmosphere, has become a draw, pulling buyers away from other, more established areas.
“Pleasant Prairie is literally 10 minutes from the border,” said Sanjay Kuttemperoor, executive vice president of V.K. Development Corp., based in Brookfield, Wis. “We have a lot of homeowners who commute across the border every day.”
V.K. Development is developing Prairie Ridge, a 420-acre, mixed-use development that will include single-family homes, a hospital, hotel, retail sites, a daycare center and several senior facilities. The development is at 104th Avenue and 79th Street, 1 mile east of I-94 and just south of Wisconsin 50.
The 216 single-family homes have wooded lots that are at least one-third acre. The 2,000- to 2,500-square-foot homes are base-priced from $225,000 to $275,000. The project is expected to take five to seven more years to finish.
The senior component includes 120 apartments built with affordable housing guidelines. Rents range from $540 for a 710-square-foot one-bedroom unit to $640 for a 925-square-foot two-bedroom. Future plans call for a nursing home or other facilities with skilled nursing care.
“The senior population is growing,” Kuttemperoor said. “You can’t pick up a trade magazine today without reading about the growing senior population and the shortage of senior housing.”
Herrick sees a need for senior housing as Pleasant Prairie’s residents reach retirement age. “Because of people living longer and the Baby Boom, there are a lot of people looking for this kind of service,” Herrick said. “It’s not that we have a large population of seniors, I think it’s just the wave of the future. People aren’t just living at home and then going into a nursing home.”
As home builders look to carve out additional tracks of land for new houses, village officials are using open space and lot-size requirements to help maintain the area’s rural flavor. “Most of the lots are going to be one-third of an acre or larger,” Herrick said.
New developments also must be connected to municipal sewer and water systems, a cost developers pay. In some cases, this stalls development of land that is too far from the main connections. “We don’t provide incentives for development. All development costs are paid for by developers, so we’re not coming out and saying, `Come develop in Pleasant Prairie,’ ” Herrick said.
The village’s country setting provided the draw for Deborah Vieira as she looked to move from nearby Kenosha. She was attracted to the country setting in the Mission Hills subdivision, at 39th Avenue and 116th Street.
She watches as deer, coyotes, owls and geese periodically move through the open space behind her three-bedroom house. “We’ve been able to watch hawks hunting in the field behind us,” she said.
She and her husband, Tony, moved there in August 1998. He works in northwest suburban Hoffman Estates and she works in Kenosha. “It’s a warm, country feeling and it has easy access to everything,” Deborah said. “I can go south and be at Hawthorn Mall or in Chicago. I can go north to Milwaukee.”
Mission Hills was started in 1998 and is being built in four phases by Kenosha-based Master Craft Builders Inc. The development will have 102 single-family homes base-priced from $175,000 to about $250,000 on lots that are a minimum of a half-acre.
Home buyers already have reserved all 30 houses in the third phase, which is going through village zoning review. “The demand has been so high. Here we are two years later and we can’t even get the lots approved before selling out,” said Nancy Washburn, development coordinator for Master Craft.
A few blocks away, Lakeshore Developers is building Prairie Trails at the corner of 39th Avenue and 122nd Street, a quarter-mile north of Russell Road. Many of the 66 lots are wooded and some back up to conservancy land or a bike trail. About half of the houses have been sold.
The houses range from 1,550 to 2,500 square feet and are base-priced from $180,000 to $300,000.
Developer Robert Schiller estimates that the cost to build the same house in many Lake County suburbs would be about $60,000 higher. The subdivision is attracting many executives from Abbott Laboratories and other northern Illinois companies, he said.
The number of buyers is almost evenly split between those moving from out of state to take a job in Illinois, those who live in Illinois and those who are moving from Kenosha, Schiller said. “A lot of people work in Bannockburn or Gurnee, but some work in Chicago.”
Chris and Elizabeth Van Bergen of Wadsworth, in Lake County, are scheduled to move to Prairie Trails in July with their daughters, Brittany, 12, and Emily, 6. They had looked at communities in the Chicago area, but liked Prairie Trails’ location and the surrounding community. “It’s a nice, quiet community,” Chris said. “We have a nice wooded lot and we’re close to the bike trail. There are lots of kids, so it’s a nice, social place for our kids.”
Outdoor recreation also is a key attraction for residents. In addition to the public beaches along Lake Michigan, the village has Prairie Springs Park, a 425-acre site at Wisconsin Highway 165, east of I-94. The park has a 2.3-mile bicycle trail that curves around the 100-acre Lake Andrea, 40 wooded acres and 2 miles of nature trails.
“Lake Andrea is one reason why Pleasant Prairie is kind of a gem in the middle of all this,” Schiller said. “We have a lot of family activities: There are laser shows and fireworks. It’s a real community centerpoint.”
Later this year, the village’s parks and recreation department will open LakeView RecPlex in Prairie Springs Park. The 130,000-square-foot complex will have a fitness center, indoor aquatic center with water slides, a 60,000-square-foot field house and sports fields for soccer, tennis, basketball and volleyball.
“This is the largest recreation complex in southeast Wisconsin, if not all of Wisconsin,” said James Zych, parks and recreation manager. “The goal of the village is to improve the quality of life in Pleasant Prairie.”
The facility, which will overlook Lake Andrea, is being funded by a $4 million donation from WISPARK Corp., developer of LakeView Corporate Park. That 1,600-acre manufacturing, office and retail park is spread along I-94 and Wisconsin 165, touching parts of Prairie Springs Park and Lake Andrea.
LakeView Corporate Park was started in 1988 and is one of the largest business parks in the area. Approximately 6,500 people are employed there in 61 companies. The property also includes a 425-acre nature conservancy along the Des Plaines River, a hotel and a day-care facility.
“The main draw is affordable land, attractive electrical rates and a central location between two major cities, Milwaukee and Chicago,” said Todd Rizzo, senior developer with WISPARK, which is a subsidiary of Wisconsin Energy Corp., based in Milwaukee. “For most people it’s a reverse commute.”
Buyers of a $200,000 house in Pleasant Prairie would receive a real estate tax bill of approximately $3,800.
Pleasant Prairie is perhaps best known for its Prime Outlets mall at I-94 and Wisconsin 165. The mall has more than 70 outlet stores that draw shoppers from throughout the Midwest. The Original Outlet Mall is a few miles north in Bristol, Wis.
The village is just south of Kenosha, which has Southport Marina, a park and beach area with a 2-mile walkway along the lakefront; several museums; and an electric streetcar circulator in its downtown. It also is home to The Dairyland Greyhound Park, a dog racing venue at I-94 and Wisconsin Highway 158.
The area receives train service from Metra’s Union Pacific North line at Kenosha. Pleasant Prairie is 55 miles from Chicago and 40 miles from Milwaukee.
Pleasant Prairie is part of the Kenosha Unified School District No. 1, which includes elementary, middle and high schools. Students would attend Prairie Lane, Pleasant Prairie or Jeffrey Elementary Schools, Lance or Bullen Middle Schools and Tremper or Bradford High School.
